Recent Posts

926

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by Renegade on December 14, 2014, 02:37 AM »

Open Window - Reasonably good thriller applying capabilities of current computer and smartphone technology to the NSA's wet dream happen.

-Shades (December 13, 2014, 08:19 AM)

Ooooh! Sounds good!

Divergent

-Renegade (December 13, 2014, 07:36 AM)

I'm starting to find these movies rather tedious being, seemingly, rather teen oriented.

Divergent
The Maze Runner (first of what seems to be a series)
The Hunger Games
The Giver (which reminded me of a toned down PG13 version of the far better Equilibrium)
etc

-4wd (December 14, 2014, 01:18 AM)

Sigh... yeah... I know what you mean. There are very, very few really good movies in this category.

Beggars can't be choosers?

I figure it's just a matter of enjoying what's available. And even bad ones are better than romantic comedies/dramas.

Two of the best dystopian films I've seen in the last few years are Atlas Shrugged I & II.

FWIW - Equilibrium was excellent! But for some reason, it always reminds me of Gattaca.

927

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Renegade on December 13, 2014, 05:16 PM »

Keep in mind that oil prices dipping like this could be a signal for a crash. Canadian housing prices just dipped for the first time in 5 years. Spain & Greece have 50% youth unemployment. The Japanese economy is a shambles. The US has 0.34% cash to debt (near zero liquidity), which indicates that they have a lot of market power. The oil price crash is likely part of a broader economic war on Russia. GATA was right about the PM market being manipulated. They all are. Legislation is in place to bail-in the banks (i.e. steal money from people to cover bank losses). New legislation on derivatives went through. The derivatives market is 20x (or more) the size of the world economy. Will pension funds be raided? Can we say "bubble"?

I think we're poised for another crisis, and very well could be headed into another war.

That could push people to put their savings into assets that aren't affected by traditional economic factors, and Bitcoin fits the bill.

Right now with the price like it is, it seems like a buy & hold or buy & spend (with some holding) price. It's pretty cheap now.

928

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« Last post by Renegade on December 13, 2014, 07:36 AM »

Out of Mind: The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft.

-40hz (November 29, 2014, 06:36 PM)

I need to check that out again.


If you like dystopian movies, try this:

Divergent



I really want to comment on this, but... sigh... I don't want to ruin it for anyone. So... No commentary.

But if you like the genre, it's worth a watch.

Meh... Fuggit! Don't click if you don't want to ruin the film!

THIS WILL RUIN THE FILM FOR YOU!!!

The film is rather bland with a lot of the same kinds of action and all that stuff. The interesting part is the plot and the meta-story.

The thesis focuses on the primacy of the state and the acceptance of the state as we see in our own reality.

However, the "divergents" step outside the state's ability to control people's thoughts.

This film explores mind control a bit (in a very superficial way), and people's roles in "society".

Overall, this is pretty weak for any kind of argument, but the film is entertaining and fun to watch. Even if you're an anti-state anarchist like me.

929

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Renegade on December 13, 2014, 02:15 AM »

I'm more concerned with its value dropping than its mainstream increasing. Cripes it's down to $350 USD now ...(that shit's making me nervous)... They need to dropkick it back up to at least the 500's..

-Stoic Joker (December 12, 2014, 10:58 PM)

I hear ya, but I wouldn't worry too much. There are a TONNE of new businesses taking BTC and offering new services across a huge spectrum. Remittance will kick things into a higher gear when it gets rolling. The third world might be the next big thing for Bitcoin. But, just speculation...

BTW, did you mean 500k?

TO THE MOOOON~~~~~~~~~!

930

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 05:10 PM »

^ I thought that his sleigh was really just a Tardis and that he delivered presents one-by-one all at the same time.

931

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 05:08 PM »

TIL: Brazil has some very prolific serial killers.

http://www.presstv.c...dmits-to-42-murders/

A serial killer in Brazil has confessed to killing 42 people for fun over the past decade, making him one of the country’s most prolific murderers.

932

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 04:21 PM »

It's almost Christmas, so it must be time to look at physics!

-Renegade (December 12, 2014, 05:56 AM)

Considering I first read that almost 40 years ago, you have a lot of catching up to do 

-4wd (December 12, 2014, 06:49 AM)

I first read it in the early 90s off of Archie or Gopher. I didn't know that it had been around that long though.

933

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 04:19 PM »

From Newegg:

http://blog.newegg.c...-mainstream-in-2015/

Bitcoin is Going Mainstream in 2015

...

End of article

The timing is right for Bitcoin to gain mass adoption and Microsoft’s acceptance is proof of that. There’s a reason one of the world’s most profitable companies believes in the future of Bitcoin and despite skepticism from some economists, it’s time for something new.

Just like plastic replaced paper, it’s time for ones and zeros to take over.

934

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 05:56 AM »

It's almost Christmas, so it must be time to look at physics!

I mean this quite literally...

The first time I read this joke I nearly friggin' died. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. I was hyperventilating as I laughed and things were starting to go fuzzy. I quite literally couldn't breathe because I was laughing hysterically.

I have never laughed so much (sober) in my life.

Your mileage may vary.

http://www.daclarke....rg/Humour/santa.html

Original Title: IS THERE A SANTA CLAUS?

• No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
  
  
• There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census)rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
  
  
• Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west(which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc.
  
  
• This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.
  
  
• The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
  
  
• 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.
  
  

In conclusion -- If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

There's more at the link.

Merry Christmas, and don't forget to torch Santa in burning effigy to remember his annual thermo-dynamic sacrifice for the children!

935

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 05:46 AM »

This holiday season, please drink responsibly!

Thank you South Park guys! 

936

Developer's Corner / Re: Is it wise for amateur to invest time in NET Framework languages?

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 03:42 AM »

.NET 4.0 won't run on XP, but, sigh...

-Renegade (November 21, 2014, 05:43 PM)

That's a typo, right? 4.0 will run on XP, but 4.5 won't.

-Ath (December 12, 2014, 01:46 AM)

You could be right.

IIRC 4.0 (pulling from memory here from a few years ago) needs XP SP3. Or something like that...

937

Living Room / Re: which phone?

« Last post by Renegade on December 12, 2014, 12:50 AM »

Probably not of interest to you, but you can spend Bitcoin on Windows Phone now.

938

Living Room / Re: We Are the Idiots

« Last post by Renegade on December 11, 2014, 09:17 AM »

There is one fellow who reportedly ate DDT at every presentation he gave.

939

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Renegade on December 11, 2014, 06:36 AM »

DC IS GONNA LOVE THIS!

A married couple go over different words in Australian and American English.

If you're Canadian (or possibly British), it's even funnier~!

What do you use when you make a mistake with a pencil? 

For all those interested in linguistic differences (native or not), this is really fun.

940

Living Room / The Pirate Bay and EZTV down

« Last post by Renegade on December 11, 2014, 05:57 AM »

In a recent raid The Pirate Bay and EZTV as well as a few other sites were taken down.

https://torrentfreak...es-worldwide-141209/

For many years The Pirate Bay has been sailing by the seat of its pants so any downtime is met with concern from its millions of users.

This morning, for the first time in months, The Pirate Bay disappeared offline. A number of concerned users emailed TF for information but at that point technical issues seemed the most likely culprit.

However, over in Sweden authorities have just confirmed that local police carried out a raid in Stockholm this morning as part of an operation to protect intellectual property.

But of course, life goes on at http://www.demonoid.pw/ (and many others).

In other news, rumour has it that The Pirate Bay is relocating to somewhere in South America. (I have no secondary confirmation on this yet.)

https://torrentfreak...-police-raid-141211/

EZTV SLOWLY RECOVERS FROM SWEDISH POLICE RAID

BY ERNESTO ON DECEMBER 11, 2014 C: 8
BREAKING

While there is still no sign of The Pirate Bay, another major torrent site is starting to recover following the police raid earlier this week. The popular TV-torrent distribution group EZTV is starting to upload new shows again as some of its servers come back online.

Earlier this week Swedish police raided a nuclear-proof data center built into a mountain complex in the city of Nacka.

The target of the raid was The Pirate Bay but collateral damage caused several other torrent sites to go down as well. This included EZTV, the go-to place for many torrenting TV fans.

After nearly two days of downtime EZTV is slowly starting to crawl back up. TF spoke to the EZTV crew who confirmed that several servers are up and running again and that the site’s services are coming back online.

Yeah, it's like that.

The main EZTV is still down for me, but it's up here: https://eztv-proxy.net

Oh! Another mole!

941

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Renegade on December 11, 2014, 02:53 AM »

Microsoft is now accepting Bitcoin for XBOX credit:

http://www.reddit.co...credit_with_bitcoin/

http://www.reddit.co...credit_with_bitcoin/

942

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Renegade on December 10, 2014, 11:24 PM »

(see attachment in previous post)
Iowa to launch smartphone driver's license

-Arizona Hot (December 10, 2014, 11:02 PM)

That is totally going to end well! 100% guaranteed! NOBODY will hack that. Not at all! I'm predicting a WINNER~!   

943

Living Room / Facebook alternative - Tsu

« Last post by Renegade on December 10, 2014, 11:21 PM »

I came across this site and figured it might be of some interest to people. Check the FAQ. They run things very differently compared to Facebook.

https://www.tsu.co/faq

Here's an invitation link:

https://www.tsu.co/RenegadeAnarchist

You need an invitation to join.

They run ads, but pay out 90% of ad revenue to users.

944

Living Room / Re: Decibels, loudness, amplifiers, formulas...complete confusion!

« Last post by Renegade on December 10, 2014, 07:03 PM »

You can make the overall level in a headphone sound significantly louder just by boosting frequency bands in the 2khz and 4khz range. So it's not just the overall level, but the frequency ranges themselves that also contribute to your perception of how loud they sound.

Good point.

One other thing to remember is that people's sensitivity to different frequencies changes (i.e. it's personal), so fiddling with the EQ and some decent reference materials is one way to figure out where to boost (or cut back).

Which makes me wonder if there's a set of reference files to actually test this on a system.

945

Living Room / Re: Decibels, loudness, amplifiers, formulas...complete confusion!

« Last post by Renegade on December 10, 2014, 04:05 PM »

One other thing to factor in to your calculations (well, in your head that is) - recording signal level.

Here's a quick visualisation:



You can see in there that the volume levels vary throughout the recording and that there is a considerable range compared to a lot of music that basically maxes out the signal at 0 dB (over 0 dB is where you get clipping). It's relatively quiet there in the middle of the second waveform, then the volume builds.

So while you can calculate what dB you theoretically want, you will only be getting that if the recording fits. Recordings with lower signal levels will still fall short.

The general trend in a lot of currently produced music (as has been for a while) is to max the signal out (as mentioned above), while in older recordings, e.g. Beatles, early AC/DC, etc., you have a lot more range.

tl;dr - You will be calculating a theoretical maximum and not the actual dB SPL level of the physical output.

946

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Renegade on December 10, 2014, 03:06 AM »

^ Yes. That.


This is really nifty:

http://weedingtech.c...ontrol/how-it-works/

It's a new kind of weed control that is non-toxic. For anyone that follows any of the news on herbicides, this is a pretty big deal.

947

Living Room / Re: Decibels, loudness, amplifiers, formulas...complete confusion!

« Last post by Renegade on December 09, 2014, 09:48 PM »

I'm not really sure what your question is.

dB is just measuring atmospheric pressure difference (caused by sound) from a reference atmospheric pressure (silence).

There are different scales though.

The absolute difference is what you should use if you are measuring energy.

However, human hearing is limited, so there are A, B, and C scales (there are others as well). They all measure dB as it relates to human hearing, which is what you should use when you are interested in "hearing" the sound.

The absolute SPL is what you want to know when you want to know which song pumps out more bass and shakes the room more.

So, in short, dB is just a differential ratio, and in this context, it's about atmospheric pressure changes.

Does that sort of make sense?

948

General Software Discussion / Re: Music Identification via Sound Card

« Last post by Renegade on December 09, 2014, 05:39 AM »

Thanks Edward for the links. Unfortunately, the program did nothing but froze my PC. I had to forcefully logoff my PC after trying for a couple of times.

-Nzyme (December 07, 2014, 09:54 AM)

If you saw what I did, that wasn't really a freeze, but a seriously annoying hang. Might have been different, but it was miserable to get up and running with it on my end.

949

Living Room / Re: Target/K-mart remove GTA V from shelves - new petition to ban Super Mario Bros

« Last post by Renegade on December 07, 2014, 07:44 PM »

Oh and last night on Imgur, I saw a petition to ban the bible from being sold in stores for promoting violent crime, sexism, and incest. From the same line of thought that got GTA-V banned.

-SeraphimLabs (December 06, 2014, 09:16 AM)

Albeit sadly predictable, that is mind blowingly retarded ... And I'm and atheist.

-Stoic Joker (December 06, 2014, 09:51 AM)

Here's an article on that:

http://www.hollywood...heft-auto-ban-754136

950

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« Last post by Renegade on December 07, 2014, 07:36 AM »

No, 'Gangnam Style' Didn't Break YouTube. We Did the Math  WIRED

-Arizona Hot (December 06, 2014, 03:34 PM)

Apparently Wired has a loose screw. The title isn't remotely related to the article and isn't remotely accurate. I really expected better from Wired.